Republican Caller: We Must Sacrifice Principles and Support Amnesty So Marco Rubio Can Appeal to Low-Information Voters

RUSH: This is Susan, Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Thanks for taking my call.

RUSH: You bet.

CALLER: I'm a little nervous here because I'm calling to play the devil's advocate with you, but before I do that I think I should probably give you my credentials. My husband and I were both Goldwater Republicans. He was head of the Goldwater college effort during his presidential campaign, and we were both part of the Reagan administration. So I'm a conservative. But I have to say I'm a little disappointed with some of my conservative friends. The reason we lost, I believe, the last two presidential campaigns was because John McCain and Mitt Romney were not conservative enough for my friends. So here's where I'm gonna play the devil's advocate with you.

RUSH: All right.

CALLER: Suppose we take this immigration law (sic) and we vote for it. The Hispanics are going to do what they do anyhow, and you had a show a little a while ago where you talked about how few people we're actually talking about anyhow in the grand scheme of things. So let's take a look at this from a different perspective.

RUSH: Wait, wait. I just lost you.

CALLER: Yeah?

RUSH: I had a show talking about how few people talk about what?

CALLER: The Hispanic vote that we're actually talking about, the percentage of the national vote who would vote against us, would vote Democratic if we pass this immigration law. It was a very small percentage, so I don't know that it would sway the election one way or the other. So let's talk --

RUSH: Well, now, wait. I want to make sure I understand what you're saying. John McCain and a number of other Republicans have said that they don't expect to get one additional Hispanic vote for supporting this, not at the beginning. They think this is gonna open the door to Hispanicville, and that's gonna allow the Republicans to go in and not be thrown out.

CALLER: Well, I agree with you. I think that's a pipe dream. I don't think that's necessarily the truth. But I don't think that that's something that we should base the whole decision upon anyhow.

CALLER: To the American public, to the low-information voter. It would be Marco Rubio, who in every other aspect is a very good conservative person.

RUSH: All right.

CALLER: He has a conservative philosophy. So he becomes their hero.

RUSH: This is where I disagree with you.

CALLER: You don't think? I think they'll think... Here's the thing. Every time they question the general public, your low-information voters, one of the things they always say is, "Why can't those people work together? Why can't they get something done?" and that's what they're looking for in a candidate, a guy who can compromise his principles and get things done. So they --

RUSH: And that's something we should want, somebody compromising their principles to "get things done"?

CALLER: No. No, no. I don't think so. But I think we would like to talk about the low-information voter and --

RUSH: You think...? Let me just understand. You think the low-information voter is going to end up crediting Rubio for the passage of the pathway to citizenship bill?

CALLER: Absolutely. Absolutely.

RUSH: And that then, if I follow you, is going to have great benefit, potentially, for the Republican Party in presidential elections as soon as 2016?

CALLER: Very possibly. I think it's a good start.

RUSH: Mmm-hmm.

CALLER: I don't think it's the only thing but I think it's a good start, not only because he's... Well, mostly because he showed his ability to quote/unquote "work with the other side," and as much as I would like to say, I think that everyone in the country should vote straight conservative, vote on their principles, I think we have to look at some of the realism here. And you say you're from Realville, so I think we have to look at this from a different perspective and say not necessarily the Hispanic vote, but the low-information voters are going to take a different message away from this, and the benefit I think will accrue to Marco Rubio.

RUSH: Okay. So your target in this is the low-information voter.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: So you want to pass the bill, you want Rubio to get credit for it with the low-information voter, because the low-information voter believe that we don't compromise and that we're rigid and we're all this rotten stuff. But Rubio's gonna show, "No, we're really cool, we're really hip," and all that, is gonna open people's eyes in the low-information segments to be more open about maybe supporting the Republican Party?

CALLER: Well, the only place I take issue with you is that I want this bill passed. I really don't. I think it's a bad deal.

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: But --

RUSH: Very, very bad.

CALLER: Yes. But I see the handwriting on the wall here, and I say, "Maybe we need to do one concession in order to get the bigger prize," and --

RUSH: This is not gonna be the first. It'll be about the twenty-first concession.

CALLER: Yeah, I know. It's very discouraging.

RUSH: Do you think the low-information segment know who Marco Rubio is? And, furthermore, do you think that Chuck-U Schumer and Barack Obama are gonna let Rubio take credit for this?

CALLER: You know, I'm not sure. I think the dye is already cast. With you watch the national media, his name is all over this bill, and you can't get away from that. So the people who watch the mainstream media --

RUSH: But Rubio doesn't hang with Jay-Z, and until he starts doing that he's not gonna --

CALLER: (giggling wildly)

RUSH: Well, you laugh, but, I mean --

CALLER: No, I understand what you mean. He's not big with the Kardashians, either, but --

RUSH: Who was it that enabled the Civil Rights Act in 1964 to be passed?

CALLER: The Republicans.

RUSH: Right, and what do blacks think of Republicans today? They hate us. They think we're racists. They think we're slave owners, or that we want to return to that -- and why? Because of what the Democrats and the media say. I think if Rubio is given credit for this by the media for low-information voters, it will be for the express purpose of ending his relationship with the Republican base. I think if the media engages in an attempt to credit Rubio, it will be to destroy him, not to help him.

CALLER: Well, that's --

RUSH: Because there's not one Republican the mainstream media or the Democrats want to look good to anybody, much less low-information voters.

CALLER: Well, that's his job, then. His job is to go back to his conservative roots. You know what's very interesting to me? When Reagan was elected, the Hispanics were with him. They were very conservative by nature, and a lot of it had to do with their very strong Catholic roots. They were very socially oriented people. They were socially with us. So there's some building that we can do there with the conservatives.

RUSH: You certainly know, because you were there, what happened to the Hispanic vote for the Republican Party after the '86 amnesty bill.

CALLER: Oh, yeah.

RUSH: We lost it.

CALLER: I know. But we needed to be smart. We need to be smart when we deal with these things, and I just think maybe I see the handwriting on the wall here and I see an opportunity for us to pick the --

RUSH: Okay, it sounds to me like -- and I'm only interrupting because of time here.

CALLER: Sure.

RUSH: It sounds to me like you pretty much think that we lost the perception battle, the optics ballots; that there is no way that us being who we are can triumph. So we have to run a game of deception, and we have to give the Democrats what they want with one of our people as the headliner to show these people that we really do like them so that maybe someday they will like us?

CALLER: I'm not that squishy on it. It makes me sound like a squish, and I'm not that squishy. I see some things that we want. We want the border to be beefed up, and we want that and that apparently is in this bill.

RUSH: See, now we're back to something else you said, and I'm gonna hold you on the break here because it's not fair if I don't. You said the bill isn't any good. You sound willing to do a bad bill just to build up Rubio.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: And we're back with Susan in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. I really appreciate your hanging in with me here. I love devil's advocate stuff, Susan, which is why I'm continuing to probe you question-wise here to get to what you really believe and what you really think and what you hope for. Because you are obviously an informed, smart woman on matters. The thing that troubles me about this -- and please, don't take this personally 'cause I know what you want.

I've heard what you said. You really want us to have potential in 2016. You like Rubio. You think Rubio has the ability here to cut through the noise and be perceived as someone liked and respected by everybody including low-information voters, when you don't see that possibility for any other Republican. This bill is something that a lot of people want, and if one of our guys can end up getting credit for it, you think that -- down the road -- is gonna really pay off, and it's worth it to you even doing a bad bill in order to bring the Republican Party out of this malaise that it's in. Is that pretty much it?

CALLER: Close.

RUSH: Okay. Well, tell me where else I'm missing it.

CALLER: Well, first of all, you said I'm willing to pass this bill. I hate this bill. If somebody asked me to write a bill, it wouldn't be like this at all. So I don't want to see this happen, but I do see a few grains of things that the conservatives seem to want in this bill, which is border security, and they have promised that to us.

RUSH: They have not.

CALLER: Now, if they don't fulfill that promise, that's a different thing.

RUSH: Wait a minute. I must stop you. They have not promised that, and this may be splitting hairs. When this Corker-Hoeven amendment promises is to put more agents on the border and do this and that and more biometrics and digitized stuff, but there's nothing here about any enforcement of anything being improved or increased. Besides, this Congress cannot bind a future Congress when it comes to long-term funding of things and so forth.

What bothers me -- and don't take this personally -- is I think that the perception so many people have is, "We're hated! They despise us." I think people have been sucked into believing that to the point that we're willing to throw away principle in order to come out of this mess. And I'm just really deeply troubled by that, and that's what bothers me most of all about the mainstream Republican establishment supporting this, is it's a total abandonment of principle, disguised as maintaining our principles.

CALLER: I don't want to throw away our principles any more than you do. I see a glimmer of hope in this. I'm trusting that these people will be able to do something in border security. I've known security, border agents, and they're fine people, they're principled people, and they're doing their job. So even if we just get the agents down there, I think that's better than nothing.

RUSH: They're not doing their jobs. Why did Arizona have to pass its own version of federal immigration law? It isn't being enforced. That's the whole rub!

CALLER: Well, maybe this will help a little, but let me say this: I'm so frightened for the future of my country.

RUSH: Yeah?

CALLER: Every day we're living with a president who chips away, chips away, chips away at our Constitution. What will we have left? So I'm saying, "Here is a man who has some potential to appeal to low-information voters." Is this bill what I want? No. Does it give me a few crumbs? Yes. It gives me a few crumbs. But here I have a man who I think -- not because necessarily he knows how to compromise. But my suspicion is -- and I could be very wrong about this -- that Marco Rubio can explain conservatism in a way that the general population will accept it.

RUSH: Okay.

CALLER: The way that Ronald Reagan did.

RUSH: Time for the big question.

CALLER: Yeah? (giggles)

RUSH: Then why doesn't he do it on immigration?

The one thing about this that is curious to me is I have a lot of, as you do, conservative friends. They're real conservatives, people who have also been in the Reagan administration and others who've served in other areas of government who are just like you. They look at what Rubio is doing in this as they're as disappointed as hell. I can't tell you how disappointed they are! But they will not criticize him. They don't want him damaged for 2016. And, I'm sorry, that loses me. That just loses me. Because what they're saying is they're willing for conservatism to be abandoned on this issue so that it can survive in three years. I just don't understand it.

CALLER: Well, it's a conundrum. I don't really understand it, either. I think that it's important to keep after Rubio. I think it's important to remind him always of the conservative principles that he supposedly supports. But it is a conundrum, Rush.

RUSH: Does anybody have to remind me? That's another one. If we have to remind 'em... (sigh)

CALLER: I know, I know. It's disappointing.

RUSH: I know you know.

CALLER: You think you've got the guy and it's disappointing.

RUSH: I know what this is.

CALLER: Listen, at the end of the Reagan administration Reagan did a couple things that conservatives just set their hair on fire.

RUSH: I know. Oh, I've heard. Believe me. This was one of them. I understand.

CALLER: Yeah. So where is the perfect man?

RUSH: Nobody's asking for the perfect man 'cause he's not running.

CALLER: That's right, and he's not around, and he wasn't Ronald Reagan. I love the man with all my heart, but he wasn't Ronald Reagan.

RUSH: You've mentioned it enough times so I know what's got you. It's the low-information voters. You know they're a large group. You know that they're ignoramuses, and I mean that legitimately. They don't know anything; they think they know everything.

CALLER: Mmm-hmm.

RUSH: They don't know anything. You're desperate to get them on our side! You're desperate to get them voting for us. You're desperate to get these people to stop thinking what they think of us, and you think Rubio can do that. So that's a big deal, 'cause everybody wants to be loved. Everybody wants to be liked. You're sitting out there like everybody else and you're fit to be tied! You're fed up with this image of Republicans the media and the Democrats have created.

You're fed up with it. You're fed up with Bush not defending himself and not reacting to it. You're fed up with no other Republican defending themselves or reacting to it. You're fed up because when your leaders don't defend what they believe in and you believe in, you aren't being defended. You're fed up with it like everybody else is, and you're at your wits' end. You know you're not a bad person.

You know Republicans are not bad people. You know conservatism is the answer! Conservatism is the solution! It's being smeared day in and day out, and nobody is standing up and defending it. Low-information voters believe BS. They're being lied to each and every day. So you see Marco Rubio here as the man who has the best chance of upsetting the current status quo, and I understand the seductive nature of that.

I understand. (sigh) Believe me, I do. I understand the desire not to be hated. I understand the desire not to be disliked. I understand the desire to be loved and all that. But to me, the problem here is that this bill is devoid of any conservatism, is devoid of any conservative principle, is devoid of anything good for the country. This bill's the end of the Republican Party no matter who's heading it up, in my view.

This bill authorizes so many damn new Democrats, we're just gonna be outnumbered. It's a matter of mathematics to me, not to mention the law is being ignored again, not to mention that the Democrats are... You know, I just can't take it anymore with the Democrats telling the Republicans how much they care for us and how much they really want us to win elections again.

"You guys, therefore, had better change your thinking on Hispanics." I just see a giant trick being played, and the Republicans falling for it. Just like the old trick that's been played, "Don't criticize Obama! The independents aren't gonna like it." You know, this is the mantra of the Republican consultancy class: "Don't criticize! Don't criticize Obama or Democrats. The American people want people to get along.

"The American people, the independents, they want people to be bipartisan." It's a bunch of garbage. It is a trick that has secured the Republican Party being silent about its opposition. It amazes me how people fall for it time and time again. What's wrong with Ted Cruz? Why do we have to put all of our eggs in one basket, here? I don't think it's that desperate. I understand people who do. Susan, I appreciate the call, I really do, more than you'll ever know.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Vickie in Brooksville, Kentucky. Hi, Vickie. Great to have you on the EIB Network.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Happy Independence Day, sir. And because of Independence Day, we can't compromise our principles. That's just a little message to Susan. And ask her, please, one word, Janet Napolitano. So, you know, she's got the veto on this immigration buildup of the fence and the security and all that crap that's in this bill. It just can't go anywhere. The base will just turn their backs and flow away. Nonetheless, I have something really, really absurd to tell you. It's common sense. I heard, I guess an analysis that Brit Hume did last night on Bret Baier's Special Report.

RUSH: Yes, on the Fox News Channel.

CALLER: Yes, sir. And he was talking about the immigration bill and all this crap that's going on with the Republican Party.

RUSH: And Brit Hume broke down all the crap?

CALLER: Yes, he did. And he cut through all the crap I might say with a very sharp knife and came up with something totally absurd called common sense.

RUSH: Common sense.

CALLER: Anyhow, he said that the entire Hispanic vote is 10% or less. The white vote is 70% or more of the voting population. Now, the white vote did not turn out in high numbers in the past two elections, especially this past election, because of the candidates. You just can't stomach it. It's beyond belief. They're just so ridiculously --

RUSH: Okay, stay with the crap that Hume cut through.

CALLER: The crap was that if you're gonna play to an audience -- that's my analysis -- then play to the audience that's 70%.

RUSH: Here's the thinking on it. I'm gonna play devil's advocate with you, because Hume was right. The Hispanic percentage of the electorate is 8.7%. The white percentage of the electorate is not quite 70, but what the Republican establishment will tell you is that the voting percentage of the white electorate is very old and dying, and thus it's getting smaller, and the white percentage of the population at large is shrinking and the population of the country, the demographics are changing and becoming more and more people of color. Minorities, when combined, will outnumber whites, and so it's forward future thinking, the Republicans demographically are concerned about.

CALLER: Uh-huh. And so what we do, then, is we become squishy squids with as many tentacles as we can possibly put out there and try to grab on a single voter rather than trying to go after the people who actually we stand a chance of getting. It's ridiculous. Think about it. If you have to compromise your principles, are you any good to anybody? As far as I'm concerned you're not. You're not. You may as well be Chuck-U Schumer. And that's how most of the people that I know --

RUSH: Well, here's the thing. Professional politicians, political scientists, consultants, vote counters, you know, they care about all this stuff. It's why I'm not in their business, and I'll be the first to admit it, but I see human beings, and I am a conservative, and I think -- and this may be Pollyannaish, but I've always believed it. The right message properly articulated can persuade anybody, and certainly can persuade a majority, without regard to color, age, gender. Now, granted, it's not gonna apply to everybody, but we've had Reagan discussed here on the program in this half hour, and that was Reagan.

Reagan was the president of Americans, and he campaigned to Americans about America. And he informed Americans about America -- principles, traditions, and this kind of thing. Now, I know his professional campaigners, his consultants, they did all this demographic stuff, and they had the focus group polling and they all do that, but Reagan's message was a shotgun. Reagan's message was to everybody. Reagan didn't have a different message depending on where he was geographically. He mighta tailored it issue-wise but not demographically. We've gotten away from that.

Republicans now, to my thinking, my way of perception, from a distance, have become prisoners to the Republican consultancy class, which has a different objective. The Republican consultants are not first and foremost oriented toward winning. They're first and foremost oriented toward getting paid, which is fine. But they do not really suffer when their candidates lose. Not financially.

Now, some of them, if they lose big, might not get another gig, but look at Bob Shrum, the Democrat. Bob Shrum, political adviser, consultant, has never won anything. He keeps getting hired. The guys that ran McCain's campaign keep getting hired. Romney hired a bunch of people from losing campaigns. And they got paid. So everybody's got their own iron in the fire on this, and you and I, average Americans, we sit out here and we think that ideas actually count, and we're laughed at.

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RUSH: To me, 2014 is a golden opportunity. People are so beaten down now. We are a party of ideas and principles that are timeless and endure, and we abandon them. We keep trying to find one savior to save us instead of what we already know works.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Look, I have to disabuse people of this notion. Everybody knows this, but somehow they want to ignore it, or maybe think it'll be different this time. Marco Rubio is not going to get the credit with low-information voters for this bill passing. When it is all said and done, that isn't gonna happen. The media, the Democrat Party... That was McCain's big selling point.

The left and the media loved him and the people that normally hate Republicans would like McCain and therefore we've got a chance. How did that work out for everybody? The low-information voters... Believe me, this thing, if it ever gets signed into law, Rubio will be there at the signing ceremony but he's not gonna be front and center. It's gonna be Obama's bill. It is gonna be Obama.

Who do you think is in charge of writing the legacy of this country and the transformation taking place? Do you think Obama's gonna give anybody else credit? Chuck Schumer will be up there and he'll taking his share, and Dick Durbin and these other guys. It's gonna be Obama. Obama is gonna get the credit for this with the low-information voters. The idea...

Now, Rubio may get some, but the idea that the media and the Democrats are gonna let that happen? It's amazing to me. This is a classic illustration of a triumph of emotion over common sense that is used to explain many human behaviors. It's a triumph of emotion over common sense. That's right. That's usually when the worst stuff happens. Stimulus, Obamacare, triumph of emotion over common sense.